This invention relates to a method and system for using a storage device that has multiple operating modes, and particularly to a method and system for reading and writing data from and to such a storage device according to attributes of the data.
Data to be stored can have different attributes, including, inter alia, different required levels of reliability and/or integrity, different required read and write speeds, different expected access frequency, and different required security levels. These attributes may be imposed or expected by the user, or by user software.
Heretofore, data once presented to a storage device or system were all treated the same way absent user intervention. For example, data requiring encrypted storage had to be processed by the user through an encryption program. Moreover, on a magnetic hard disk, for example, all data have been physically written and read the same way regardless of their attributes.